Jacques Rancière

This book is a critical introduction to contemporary French
philosopher Jacques Rancière. It is the first introduction in
any language to cover all of his major work and offers an
accessible presentation and searching evaluation of his significant
contributions to the fields of politics, pedagogy, history,
literature, film theory and aesthetics.

This book traces the emergence of Rancière’s thought
over the last forty-five years and situates it in the diverse
intellectual contexts in which it intervenes. Beginning with his
egalitarian critique of his former teacher Louis Althusser, the
book tracks the subsequent elaboration of Rancière’s
highly original conception of equality. This approach reveals that
a grasp of his early archival and historiographical work is vital
for a full understanding both of his later politics and his ongoing
investigation of art and aesthetics.

Along the way, this book explains and analyses key terms in
Rancière’s very distinctive philosophical lexicon,
including the ‘police’ order,
‘disagreement’, ‘political subjectivation’,
‘literarity’, the ‘part which has no part’,
the ‘regimes of art’ and ‘the distribution of the
sensory’.

This book argues that Rancière’s work sets a new
standard in contestatory critique and concludes by reflecting on
the philosophical and policy implications of his singular project.

"An absolute model of explanatory clarity, with a level of critical
distance made all the more impressive by this being the first
monograph on Ranciere in any language."French Studies

"A solid introduction to Ranciere's thought that should help
facilitate the reception of his work in the English-speaking
world."Choice

"Well written and accessible ... the chapters are clear and
capture the full extent of Rancière's thinking, yet they
remain remarkably critical."Ethical Perspectives

"Davis has thought through how best to introduce Rancière's
philosophy and he does it convincingly and compellingly. His book
will deservedly become the standard introduction and companion to
Rancière for first time readers at every level."Jay Bernstein, New School for Social Research

"Oliver Davis's Jacques Rancière is an overview of
force and beauty. Working through the whole of Rancière's
reflections on philosophy, politics, historiography and aesthetics,
Davis offers a clear and coherent account of work that has changed
the way we think about the emergence, the condition and the future
of democracy."Tom Conley, Harvard University

Instructors

Permissions

To apply for permission please send your request to permissions@wiley.com with
specific details of your requirements. This should include, the Wiley title(s), and the specific portion of the content you wish to re-use
(e.g figure, table, text extract, chapter, page numbers etc), the way in which you wish to re-use it, the circulation/print run/number of people
who will have access to the content and whether this is for commercial or academic purposes. If this is a republication request please include details
of the new work in which the Wiley content will appear.